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Control

Chapter 33: The Violence Ends Here

Hal's P.O.V

I had to do this, I'd placed myself in all this mess and I was the only one that could sort this entire thing out. Crumb was my fault a moment of utter weakness had resulted in another vampire in this world, one I was responsible for. No telling how many people he could be killing just on a will and it would all come down to my mistake.

"Are you alright?" Sophie asked as we arrived at the door to his house, I hesitated slightly before knocking.

"I will be, once this is all over with." I replied she didn't look as though she believed me, but she nodded none the less. Shortly after knocking on the door, Crumb answered covered in blood and wearing only underwear.

"Hal and Sophie too, what can I do for you?" he asked leaning against the doorway winking at Sophie who scowled and turned her attention away from the house.

"I've come to see if you need any help." I answered he smiled and ushered the both of us through the door. The house was in such a state, nothing seemed to have been cleaned in months maybe even years, how could someone live like this?

"Should we just leave now?" Sophie whispered as she stepped over old food containers that had been strewn on the floor. I shook my head as Crumb opened another door revealing what should have been a dining room of sorts. Strewn at the table were a few corpses and at the head of the table was another vampire. "You've sired someone else?"

"No I only made Crumb, I don't know who that man is." I whispered back to us, in the short time that Crumb had been a vampire he had already killed several people and sired another. This was the worst case scenario I had never thought of.

"Alan, this is Hal and Sophie."

"I've read your file, impressive." Alan greeted, of course Rook kept files on all supernatural beings, mine probably read like an absolute horror story.

"You need to stop all of this." I stated trying to be firm, but all the blood in the room was testing my control to the limit.

"You need to stop this meaningless killing, you can survive without blood." Sophie added she too looked as though her control was shortly going to fall.

"And why should I do that, this is perfect!" Crumb exclaimed patting one of the corpses on the head.

"Can you please give us a minute?" Sophie asked as she pulled me out of the room. "They're insane; I don't think we can help them at all. Maybe our only choice is to stake them and be done with it."

"Rook said I can deal with him any way I saw fit."

"Yes and this may be the only action we can do." She replied but I shook my head, I didn't just want to end their lives they had a right to live, after all I did push Crumb to this life.

"No, all this violence needs to end. And this is the way to end it. They need to learn that this life can be so much more." I stated "For once we can do some good."

"I want to help you." I stated firmly as we entered the room once again, but Crumb just shook it off.

"You had your chance when I came asking, but you didn't give a shit then did you?"

"I'm sorry about that, it was wrong of me. But I can help you now." I answered maybe if I had helped him in the first place; the people at the table would still be living normal lives. They wouldn't be dead and Alan wouldn't have joined the ranks of the undead. "With my help you can leave this life behind; you can careers, friends even lovers."

"What like you?"

"If you accept his help you don't have to live like this. Live with all this constant death. You can have a normal fulfilled life." Sophie added Crumb seemed to have been convinced however Alan was a little more sceptical.

"Alright then, it's a deal." He said shaking my hand…this was going to be a challenge.

Tom's P.O.V

I'd been left alone in charge of Bobby and the house, Hal and Sophie had gone off to help the vampire that Hal had accidentally turned, while Alex had gone God knows where. Bobby hadn't moved off of the couch since Rook and the rest had left this morning, while I was stood doing the ironing.

"When's Mr Rook coming back?" he asked looking slightly towards me before turning his attention back directly in front of him.

"I don't know."

"What're you doing?" he asked I sighed and put the iron down and folded over the shirt I had just ironed.

"What's it look like?" I answered maybe a bit too annoyed with him, but he was just a little too clueless and naïve and it was driving me up the wall. Especially since it seemed I was deemed his babysitter solely because I was the only other werewolf.

"I'm not allowed to iron, the last time I ironed my legs got all burned." He explained, I looked over at him how could someone be so clueless?

"How did yo…nevermind."

"Can I take my shoes off?" he asked I shook my head.

"No."

"Can I sit at the table?"

"No."

"Do you have an answering machine with the bell tone 500?" he asked I sighed again placing the iron back down.

"No we…bell tone 500?"

"The bell tone 500 was the last answering machine to use the little cassettes." He explained I placed both my hands down on the ironing board and looked away from him for a bit. This was the worst day ever.

"Brilliant that, honestly."

"When's Mr Rook coming back?"

"I don't know mate." I answered at that point Hal and Sophie came through the front door, followed by two more people…two more vampires. "What are they doing here?"

"I told you he wasn't going to like it." Sophie stated as the two new vampires started looking around the place.

"Wow, he's from the archive. What are you doing here?" the vampire who was carrying a Viking helmet in his arms asked looking at Bobby.

"I live here now, Mr Tom is looking after me." Well that was a statement and a half, he wasn't living here he was only staying the day while Rook did whatever Rook needed to do. Damn Hal if he didn't owe him a favour my day would be so much better.

"Bobby is another temporary inhabitant." Hal explained.

"Wow, hang on a minute what do you mean?"

"Maybe the four of us should take this elsewhere, if you wouldn't mind giving us a minute gentleman." Sophie said as she ushered us all into the kitchen. "Tom, Alex I know this isn't ideal but we have to help them."

"I say we stake those two idiots and return Bobby to Rook." I stated but Hal just shook his head.

"We need to give them a chance, besides Bobby won't be here too long, Rook will return him to the archive."

"While we have to ween those two of the blood? Yeah well I'm not dealing with that, we could just you know kebab them and it would be one less problem on our hands." Alex weighed in on things; Bobby was one thing someone who was so naïve to the world it was unbelievable, but he could be dealt with easily just needed some distraction till Rook returned. The other two were blood cravers who could go mental and kill everyone in the neighbourhood at any point. I needed to get out of here.

"Come on Bobby."

"Where are you going?" Sophie asked as we all exited the kitchen.

"Work."

Sophie's P.O.V

The long process of training Crumb to get control over his blood lust was amped up after he staked Alan while Hal had locked the pair of them up in the basement of the BnB. Hal took him down the beach to workout with Alex to shout encouragement at them, while at the BnB we took him through Leo's routines of cleaning and menial tasks to keep the brain occupied. While this was all happening Tom had warmed up to Bobby and taken him under his wing, it didn't look like Rook was going to come back anytime soon to pick him back up.

"I think it may actually be working Hal." I said as finished fixing my hair turning away from my non-existent reflection in the mirror and over to Hal who was doing his morning press ups. He finished up before jumping up to his feet and picking up his shirt. He always had looked amazing shirtless, and I could never stop myself from staring.

"So un-lady like." He joked wrapping his arms around me and pulling me into him before kissing me deeply.

"Forgive me my Lord, but how can one not stare at such a physique?"

"I pale in comparison to your beauty." He replied as a hand caressed my cheek.

"Such a flatterer." I laughed we spent a few more minutes in an embrace. "But seriously it is going really well I think. Crumb is finally gaining control and Bobby is learning a lot from Tom."

"I know, who thought it could have gone so well."

Crumb had gained a lot of control so much so that we finally took him to a social setting, granted it only was the Barry Grand Hotel, but it also gave us the opportunity to see Bobby and Tom hard at work. Rook had finally made his appearance at the hotel however now Bobby didn't want to go back to the archive he wanted to stay with Tom and Tom had grown to like Bobby.

"Tom is everything set for the full moon. You know you and Bobby have a plan right?" I asked as we were laying one of the tables in the dining room, Hal had gone off to do managerial work while Bobby was cleaning another table, and Alex and Crumb were on their 'date'.

"As always yeah, the forest got the chickens ready and everything." Tom replied with a smile as he placed down the cutlery in the correct places. "Crumb has come a long way."

"I know it's shocking what a strict routine will…well not all that shocking if you look at Hal and I."

"But Crumb was nuts."

"I don't think you've ever seen Hal and I in full blood lust have you? You really wouldn't want to." I added sure he'd sort of seen us when we'd drank a bit of blood, but not in full massacring glory.

"What keeps you in control of it all?" he asked I don't think I'd ever explained to him what helped me get through every day without losing it and drinking the place dry.

"I think of the times when I wasn't a vampire, my little sisters mainly. And Hal."

"Hal?"

"Yeah, it was over five hundred years ago when we first met. Before all this supernatural stuff happened, we lived in the same town he was born in a brothel while I was born to a semi respectable family of medium wealth." I began to reminisce "My sisters and I had gone to the market and while I was browsing through the stalls, I saw him at that point his eyes met mine and he smiled. He was so handsome I couldn't help smile. My youngest sister Evangeline pulled me away from where I was stood and I couldn't see him anymore, I thought all hope of meeting this handsome man had been dashed."

"But he found you."

"He somehow found me amongst the crowd and offered me a rose." I finished it felt so nice to tell the story, if the supernatural never existed and the war never happened maybe Hal and I could have lived a normal life. "Back then you couldn't just date whoever you wanted though and Hal knew my father would never approve of our courtship, him being the son of a whore. We'd meet in secret every possible time I could get away from my family, but eventually my father found out and forbade me from seeing him."

"But let me guess you went against his wishes."

"I tried, but my father kept a close eye on me and tried to marry me off as quickly as possible."

"Don't remind me of Charles." Hal interjected as he suddenly appeared next to me, placing a hand on my lower back. "Telling Tom all about the good old days?"

"Yeah you know before we got fangs."

"It sounded like a movie." Tom added as he finished setting the table that I had completely neglected in favour of telling him the story. I hadn't realised how late it was getting until I looked over towards Alex and Crumb where behind them on the wall a clock was.

"I can finish these tables off if you need to get going Tom."

"Oh damn didn't realise how late it was. Thanks Sophie." He said as he stopped what he was doing and started towards the door.

"How did you get onto the topic of how we met?" Hal asked as he began helping me with the rest of the tables.

"He asked how I kept it together you know, and I told him."

"It's me?"

"Don't get smug, but you were and always have been my whole world." I replied just as I was placing down some cutlery onto the table I was pulled into a tight embrace.

"And you're my world."

Hal's P.O.V

Tom had left to prepare for the full moon, leaving Sophie and I to finish up the dining room. Bobby had also presumably gone with Tom after all Tom was looking after him and wouldn't let the werewolf roam freely round the hotel. Alex and Crumb were still sat at the table on their little date which didn't seem to be going too bad. When all of a sudden there were screams of terror.

"What was that?" Sophie asked as we both went towards the screaming, I held an arm behind me which she held so that I knew she was safe behind me.

"You don't think…" Alex started as she and Crumb stood up from their table, when a howl sounded through the place.

"Bobby." And just as everyone said it he came bursting through the door in between the four of us. "Keep him between us and don't act as though you're scared, Bobby look this way!"

"I can't do this." Crumb kept saying as he tried to get out of the room but Alex kept him in place. I kept Sophie behind me not wanting her to get hurt.

"Bobby, come this way. That's right Bobby this way." She called gaining Bobby's attention he started to walk further towards us and away from the exit.

"That's it, keep him away from the outside." I said as Alex called his attention to her and Crumb who now looked absolutely petrified. He suddenly bolted out the room leaving the door wide open for Bobby to escape. "NO! He can't get outside."

"I've got it!" Alex stated as she forced the door closed, Crumb crumpled to the ground backing far away as Bobby now stalked towards him.

"Stay here." I said to Sophie as I let go of her and ran into the hallway to get Bobby's attention.

"Hal!"

"Bobby this way." I shouted as I ran up the stairs, and luckily Bobby followed. My plan was to get him into one of the rooms and lock him inside, but I couldn't quite get the keys to go into the lock. I was now cornered by the werewolf, the only thing I could do was fight my way out. "Alright then, let's do this."

"Hal!" Sophie shouted, she'd followed me upstairs and now Bobby was more focused on her, but then suddenly Tom crashed through the window.

"Tom?!" but without another thought I manoeuvred around Bobby and grabbed Sophie pulling her into a room. Bobby followed us in there but Tom quickly threw himself at allowing Sophie and I to escape the room. Alex appeared with keys in hand to lock the two werewolves in there, I slowly descended to the ground with Sophie in my arms holding her close to me. "Please don't scare me like that again."

"I thought you'd need help."

"And I told you to stay down there." I said pressing my lips to her forehead, when I saw her on the landing with Bobby nearly attacking her, I thought for sure I'd lose her…not that she couldn't hold her own, but a werewolf could be unpredictable. Crumb finally made his way upstairs ranting and raving about us laughing at him for what he was, Alex shook her head at his tirade, and I kissed Sophie once more before taking Crumb downstairs to deal with him. Suddenly the world turned black only for me to wake up strapped to the chair I had strapped Crumb into in the beginning in the basement of the BnB.

"It's not nice is it? Waking up in here not knowing whether you've been bummed." Crumb began as I started to struggle, I could feel it I was losing control to him, my darker self.

"Crumb you've got to let me out."

"No I want to make you feel helpless, make you feel like I do."

"Listen to me, I'm not feeling…" I began I was losing it. "Crumb he's coming let me out!"

"I'll never be you, I'll never be loved like you!" he shouted gripping my shoulders and that's when it all went wrong.

"I'm irredeemable; I destroy everything and everyone I ever love and care about. Crumb let me out."

"Hal?"

"Crumb." I had finally conquered the weaker me, the pitiful Hal who had shacked up with a werewolf and a ghost to become 'clean', the one who had allowed a young worthless vampire to tie him up in his own basement. "Your face, you thought you'd lost your reflection didn't you? Well take a good look boy, this is you, this is us. We aren't cursed we are the curse."

"He said I could have a normal life."

"Well he lied; you could get 10, maybe 20, 50 years top. But you'll always end up here, it'll find you it always finds you." But the weaker me took back control, but one day he wouldn't be able to take it back and I would finally be back in control once and for all. "He was here wasn't he? He's going to ruin everything!"

"It's the constant battle between good and evil that I can't stand the waiting. I bet you can relate to that." He looked over towards the two glasses of blood on the table. "Drink the werewolf blood, save yourself and everyone else, or drink the human blood and become evil again." He then let me out of the chair. "Half expected you to hit me then."

"Why fight?" I asked he was giving me a choice of ending it all, but the thought of Sophie alone was stopping me from doing this. "Dealer's choice."

He picked up one glass and I the other, he immediately drank the glass while I stared down at mine…should I do this? At the moment I was about to drink it Alex burst in and threw it out of my hand and against the wall.

"I guess I win." Crumb said as he turned to ash, he'd chosen the werewolf blood.

"Would you have drunk that?"

"I don't know."


Author's notes:

I'm so sorry it has taken me so long to update, but I just don't like rushing and putting up a chapter that I'm not happy with. Hopefully I'll have time to update this more and should be able to finish off the whole story soon if I keep writing regularly and don't get writer's block, I already have a future chapter pre-written which will be uploaded, I think four chapters after this one. Hopefully you have enjoyed this chapter and have enjoyed the rest of the story; again I'm sorry about the lack of updating. Thanks again for all the support it does mean a lot to me, and I won't give up on this story until I am finished. See you in the next chapter.